Category Archives: Nuclear Outreach

Is your company a member of the Canadian Nuclear Association? Do you need to know more about export financing?

If the answer to these questions is yes, you should check your calendar for Thursday June 5.

Successful Exporting for Canadian Nuclear Companies will be a two-hour lunchtime opportunity to meet with Export Development Corporation (EDC) and learn how export financing can work for Canadian firms.

The workshop is also open to members of the Organization of Canadian Nuclear Industries (OCI).

You don’t need to be a direct exporter. EDC, a federal Crown corporation, also works with companies in the export supply chain.

Watch the CNA website or the Daily NUze for a formal announcement in coming days, andbe sure to register through EDC. Space will be limited.

Why: To make the most of the international opportunity for Canadian products, technology and expertise

We did it, Canada! On October 12, 2012, to kick off National Science & Technology Week, participants across the country got together at multiple locations to go out for the Guiness World Record for the largest practical science lesson.

TalkNUclear participated with the students at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), one of Canada’s fastest-growing universities, by a group of 46 students all from the highly regarded Nuclear Engineering program.

Excluding hydroelectric, no other source of energy can produce so much clean, base load power at such sustained levels as nuclear.

Nuclear power is an integral part of the clean energy portfolio. Because nuclear power plants produce large amounts of continuous power, they enable the use of complementary renewable energy sources that are intermittent (such as wind and solar).

There are virtually no greenhouse gas emissions from our nuclear power plants so our industry does not contribute to climate change or smog.

Electricity currently generated by nuclear power facilities globally saves the potential emission of about 2.4 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases per year that would result from the same amount of electricity generated by fossil-based sources – equivalent to the emissions from all the cars in the Western Hemisphere..

The land footprint of a nuclear facility, such as Darlington (Canada’s second largest nuclear facility), is roughly the same as a shopping centre so it doesn’t disturb much of the surrounding environment compared with most other electricity sources.

I need to get another one of these mugs before the writing comes off completely.

Groups fighting nuclear energy and advocating industrial wind and solar are not environmentalists!

Rod Adams · January 8, 2013

I’m mad as hell and I don’t want to take it any more. Groups that fight any and all use of nuclear energy and also spend time advocating for the increased use of massive, industrial scale energy collectors on undeveloped, virgin land should NEVER be called “environmental groups”. I am not saying that the groups are full of bad people, I am saying that the “environmental” label is contradicted by the facts.

Below is a guest blog from our friends at NA-YGN’s Chalk River Chapter. They recently put on a very successful professional networking event that included delegates from Canadian and American chapters and offered the opportunity to learn more about the activities at Chalk River Labs and network with their peers. Please read on for a fulsome summary.

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On November 8th and 9th the North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NA-YGN) Chalk River Chapter and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) hosted 50 delegates from Canadian and American Chapters, originating from several different nuclear sites throughout North America for the inaugural professional networking event: Past, Present and Future in Nuclear. Overall, the event was a great success and provided delegates with a significant opportunity to learn about the varied research projects currently ongoing at Chalk River and network with peers from other nuclear stations throughout the continent.

Attendees at NA-YGN’s professional networking event

The event kicked off Thursday evening with the Past section, where Joan Miller welcomed the delegates on behalf of AECL as NAYGN’s Executive Sponsor. Morgan Brown, as the keynote speaker, then gave an entertaining and informative seminar on the history of nuclear science and technology in Canada and, specifically, Chalk River’s role in shaping and development of the Canadian nuclear industry. The talk touched briefly on the role of the CANDU nuclear reactors in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick and their respective energy distribution grids, and proceeded to lead into the historical reasons why Canada went with a heavy water reactor design.

Delegates were treated to a tour of Chalk River Laboratories.

A tour of Chalk River Laboratories on Friday November 9th was the main focal point of the event – showcasing the Present State of the Nuclear Industry in Canada. The delegates experienced several aspects of the Laboratories, showcasing the numerous different areas of current nuclear research and development with several industry and academic partners. Some of the areas showcased included mechanical systems design, nuclear non-proliferation detection equipment, the effects of radiation on biological systems, and the chemical production of hydrogen. The driving focus behind these tours was to increase the awareness of the important role AECL and Chalk River serves to the Canadian nuclear industry in our partners throughout the industry.

Friday evening served complete the event, with a panel discussion focused on the Future State of the Nuclear Industry in Canada. Executives from AECL, the Canadian Nuclear Association, and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, were in attendance to provide insight into the future role of nuclear technology in supplying baseload electricity, the future of small modular reactors in the Canadian North, as well as the focus of future public outreach activities and what could be done to increase positive public perception of nuclear technology. The initial series of questions asked to panel members and the ensuing discussions were quite insightful, with an excellent opportunity provided for delegates to ask questions related to future of the industry following.

Executives from AECL, the Canadian Nuclear Association, and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission participated in a panel on the future role of nuclear.

Overall, the inaugural NAYGN Past, Present and Future of Nuclear event was a great success …

We love it when our friends come to town. This was the second NU Energy on the Hill Day, which is proving to be a great opportunity for members of Canada’s nuclear industry to get together, learn from each other’s experiences in the different areas of the industry, and more than that, a great chance for us to tell our experiences to Parliamentarians on the Hill.

The two-day event began on Sunday evening, September 30, at the Sheraton Hotel here in Ottawa. Thirty-six participants who are members of Women in Nuclear (WiN) Canada and North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NAYGN) from CNA member companies arrived for a welcome reception where we got to mingle and pick up our kits containing some educational swag, industry key messages, and our group assignments for the next day’s meetings.

Do you really need nuclear power to make popcorn? Yes! And we gave Parliamentarian some popcorn to prove it.

Monday morning offered some professional development sessions, including a great presentation about “How Ottawa Works” from public affairs gurus Anne McGrath and Will Stewart from Ensight Canada. Next up was Member of Parliament for Simcoe-Grey, Dr. Kellie Leitch, who also spoke to participants about the role of an MP.

Throughout the day, the eight groups of WiNners and Young Genners attended meetings and told their stories. All together we met with about 24 Parliamentarians and Staff. I personally had three meetings, let me tell you about them.

My first was with Chris Alexander, MP for Ajax-Pickering. He was very supportive of nuclear in Canada and appreciates the contributions of nuclear technology to Canadian society – our energy system, the health of Canadians and the environment. The biggest takeaway from that meeting was that we, as an industry, need to do more public outreach and education about nuclear. The CNA couldn’t agree more (check out our education site at TeachNUclear.ca and follow us on social media!).

Members of Bruce Power, OPG, Candu Energy Inc and MP Chris AlexanderI felt very special receiving this invite to the Speaker’s Gallery.

A highlight of the day was being invited to sit in the Speaker’s Gallery to watch Question Period. After QP, we were invited to the Speaker of the House’s office for a quick chat. Speaker Andrew Sheer is the MP for Regina—Qu’Appelle, so it worked out nicely that the group for this meeting was made up of people from Cameco and SaskPower. We caught up about mining and power issues in the province and, of course, chatted about the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

What’s good for the group (I’m the one with her eyes closed). Members of Cameco and SaskPower with Speaker Sheer.

After our meeting with Speaker Sheer, we had a quick pow-wow with Bob Rae, the MP for Toronto Centre and interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. He too was supportive of nuclear, having been premiere of Ontario during the construction of the Darlington nuclear station – which provides about 20 percent of Ontario’s electricity needs, enough to serve a city of two million people.

The group from Cameco and SaskPower with Mr. Bob Rae.

What a great day! On behalf of everyone here at the CNA, a big thank you goes out to all of our participants, speakers and Parliamentarians who made the second annual NU Energy on the Hill Day a big success. See you again next year!